Staying One Step Ahead

Why she started a catalog: When Karen Scott was expecting her second child, she spent a day sorting through her first child’s baby things to see what to keep and what to give away. She realized how many of those old baby products she didn’t want. Scott had an epiphany of sorts: Maybe moms like her needed someone to do the comparative shopping for them so they wouldn’t end up with useless items. Self-guided market research directed her to other new moms and confirmed her hunch that this was a business opportunity.

Products she sells: infants’ and children’s merchandise such as apparel, bedding and safety products; 25 percent are private-label items.

Grew up in: Greenwich, CT.

Education: B.A. in child psychology from the University of Massachusetts. MBA from Northwestern University. (Husband Ian Scott, another Northwestern alumnus, now heads up the operations side of the business.)

Toughest challenges in the beginning: growing a business while being self-funded. “We were sometimes forced into going on back-order almost immediately, while still trying to maintain a decent level of service to our customers,” she recounts. “With 20 inventory turns a year, it was really tough.”

Hardest challenge today: finding new sources of growth in conventional catalog marketing. “It’s becoming more difficult to come up with new sources of names,” she says. “We’re looking at new distribution channels as a way to grow. But I don’t see the catalog as ever going away. Most of our Internet volume is driven by our catalog drops.”

Her role in the company: “Until now I’ve mostly been involved in marketing and merchandising, but recently I’ve turned over those areas to new senior management.” Her new focuses: the Web, new-product development — especially the company’s private-label line — and pursuing new opportunities for growth.

Favorite catalogs: Frontgate, Bloomingdale’s and Solutions.

Key to cataloging success: Make sure your offer is unique. Says Scott, “Anyone with a ‘me-too’ offering is likely to fail.”

Primary characteristics: “I try to be honest and direct,” Scott says. Having cut her teeth as a marketing manager in the highly structured corporate culture at Kraft Foods, Scott says she now prefers to skip the politicking and work with a team spirit. “I also think I’m optimistic and pragmatic, always trying to look for the simplest and most direct solution to any problem.”

What she likes most about cataloging: “The feedback you get from your customers — I just love the clarity of that. If you test properly, you know right away how you’re doing.”